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SEE OLYMPIC
CHAMPION JASON QUEALLY PLUS 2002 WORLD CHAMPIONS |
INTERVIEW:
CHRIS HOY
At this years World Track Championships in Stuttgart (Germany), there is one Great Britain rider who will be defending not one but two World Championship Titles, Scotland�s Chris Hoy. Last year in Denmark, Chris was the winner of the Kilometre event and part of the three man Team Sprint squad that defeated their rivals to finally take gold after a number of years winning silver. On his website diary on www.chrishoy.com, Chris says all is going well and in training at Manchester he recorded a new personal best of 31.45 secs for the 500 metres, knocking over 3 tenths off the time he did at the Commonwealth Games last year. The build up to the Worlds has been a long one but during the weeks and months, there have been some personal highlights. Like returning home to Scotland for the Edinburgh Grand Prix at Meadow Bank with the event promoter being none other than Chris�s dad, David. �I probably wouldn�t have ridden at this time of year but being as it was home track and my dad was organising, how could I not do it. It was good fun and it was good to go back to the track I started on. Seeing old team mates and friends I haven�t seen in a while.� Asked why he wouldn�t normally race at this time of the year, he explained that �it does distract you from your training in that you do types of efforts you wouldn�t normally do. For the kilo riders, its not what you would ideally plan but then its not such a bad thing because it gives you a change from the routine. If it had rained though I would have had to do a turbo session so it can be disruptive, but in the end I had a reasonable work out and a decent weekends racing.� I then asked what about the dangers such as crashes. These can occur at any time as GB riders from years gone by can testify but in racing, crashes can be even more likely as the red mist descends and adrenaline takes over. �There�s always the chance that something may happen� Chris says �like you might touch wheels and that would be the last you want a few weeks before major competition so its about playing it safe as well.� Asked about how the preparation is going, Chris says �Its going pretty well � I�m pretty happy. Its hard to tell but I think I�m on a par with last year, perhaps a little faster but its difficult to tell. I think being on a 285 metre track suits the British team because we have three kilo riders (Chris, Jamie Staff and Jason Queally) and the fastest man over one lap so we�re going to be hard to beat but saying that, the Germans are going to be on their home track and have three good kilo riders also, and the French as always are dangerous, so its going to be tight. I sure we can come back with the team gold and fingers crossed in the kilo as well.� I then asked Chris about the importance of the Stuttgart Worlds. Like the World Cups and the World Championships in Melbourne next year, all these events are qualifiers in a direct or indirect way for Athens and the Olympics. So is there any pressure to do well at Stuttgart with Athens in mind? �The Melbourne Worlds are is the qualification event for Athens� he explained. �The most important thing for us at this Worlds is one of us to win the Kilo so we get an extra place at next years worlds so all three of us can ride off against each other because if we only get two places, then it makes it difficult to decide on the two, a headache for the selectors, but if one of us wins the kilo this year, it makes selection a whole lot easier at the next Worlds.� The Great Britain Teams are divided roughly into two camps, the endurance lads and the sprinters. Throughout the year, the Sprint team have had a number of training camps, like the two in Cottbus. I asked Chris did the training that he might do and that of someone like Craig Maclean, differ a great deal. Craig is more a short distance specialist (very fast over 250 metres standing start) while Chris trains mainly for the kilometre. �Its not really about training together� Chris says �because we don�t need to be on the track together. Its being in the track centre while we�re training for morale team spirit.� And judging by the diary on Chris�s website, the moral of the team seems to be very good at the moment with riders and management working hard but also enjoying it as well. As for the bike Chris will be riding and whether there has been any changes over the year since it was introduced at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Chris is careful not to give anything away, with any changes made being kept under wraps until the Olympics. And so next week, Wednesday, the 30th of July is the big day for Chris when he attempts to retain his Kilometre title. Word from Chris is that everyone is firing very well and that the main threat may well come from the Olympic Champion Jason Queally, Chris�s Great Britain team mate in Stuttgart. Or Jamie Staff who on returning from America is also going well. But with a number of personal bests in the Gym and on the track, Chris is certainly hopeful of returning home with the rainbow jersey again. Over the next week, its time to taper down ready for competition. Talking about the taper period, Chris says �about three weeks out, the volume starts to come back. You start doing less sessions and more rest. It� s something we carry through the whole season, but especially in the final taper, you�re really focusing on quality rest so that when you get to the track, there�s no fatigue, and every session is like a racing effort as close to maximum as possible and you get the most benefit from that when you�re fresh.� And so its fingers crossed not just for Chris but for all the GB team in Stuttgart. All being well, I�ll be there to record the action and we�ll have a number of special features on the Championships in the weeks after the Worlds as we head for the Olympic Qualifiers in Manchester.
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